


The World Can Change in the Blink of an Eye

by Gigi_Sinclair



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 02:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6177352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigi_Sinclair/pseuds/Gigi_Sinclair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snoke has been overthrown, and in his fortress, Kylo Ren finds something he wasn't expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The World Can Change in the Blink of an Eye

The room was so well hidden, Kylo didn’t find it until three days after the coup.

It was in the furthest reaches of Snoke’s fortress, behind two thick doors. Kylo broke them down because he could, not expecting to find anything. He stopped and stared as the second door fell to pieces.

Unlike most of the other rooms, this one was climate-controlled. The lights were dim. Apart from a low table, the only article of furniture, if it could be called that, was a large metal box, open at the top, pushed against one of the stone walls. Kylo removed his helmet. As he put it on the table, a silver droid—human height, with four padded arms—rolled up to him. “This infant,” it said, its voice flat and monotonous, “is the property of Supreme Leader Snoke.”

“Snoke is dead,” Kylo replied, and switched off the droid.

Kylo knew what this was. In a way, it was brilliant. Snoke had taken him young, but not young enough. Others had influenced him. It was why he could not banish the Light, not entirely, and it was why, in the end, Kylo’s loyalty was not as deep as Snoke had thought. As they had both thought.

But this was a perfect solution. Take an infant, likely to be very strong with the Force, from its parents as early as possible. Raise it like the stormtroopers, knowing nothing but what Snoke wished it to learn. If, in the end, the child was not as strong as hoped, then it could be killed. But if it was strong…the possibilities were endless. It was a good gamble. Kylo didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it himself.

As he stood staring, a snuffling arose from the box. Kylo hesitated a moment, then stepped forward. The child was lying on a thin mattress, dark eyes open, fists balled at its sides. Kylo couldn’t tell how old it was, but it was small. A holographic screen on the wall beside the box showed a graph titled ‘Average Growth: Human Female’ with a glowing dot about halfway up the curve. Apart from that, the walls were bare.

The snuffling became coughing, which became mewling. Kylo knew he should turn the nanny droid back on. He didn’t. Instead, he reached into the box and carefully lifted the child. Immediately, the mewling ceased. Despite himself, Kylo smiled.

Hux had no interest in it. Sitting on his throne, long sought and still very new, he had little interest in anything else. “Kill it,” he commanded, when Kylo showed him the baby. “Use the light saber, dash its head against the wall, I don’t care.”

Kylo was loyal to Hux, and Hux was loyal to him. They had pledged it the night before they overthrew Snoke, and sealed it with a kiss that tasted like blood. Hux was the Supreme Leader—the Emperor—and Kylo his powerful man-at-arms. In the near future, Hux said, when their reign was secure, they might solemnify the arrangement with marriage. Kylo was ambivalent at the prospect. On the one hand, strong attachments were forbidden among his people, for good reason. On the other hand, the attachment was already there.

Still, barely three days into their joint rule, Kylo could not acquiesce to this. “An Emperor needs an heir,” he said. Women held no thrall whatsoever for the Emperor. Even with the aid of technology, Hux would never have the patience to try, again and again, until he sired a biological heir of his own. It could take a long time. Kylo’s mother told him once that he was the product of many years of procedures and hope, and, although his parents never gave up, no siblings had followed.

“That’s what makes you extra special,” she had said. Another lie.

Hux laughed, a manic sound that echoed off the cold stone walls. “All right. Brendol Hux the Third. It has a ring to it.”

“The child is a girl.” Or so Kylo assumed from the chart in the nursery.

“Name it what you want, then. I don’t want to see it until it can command a battalion. And don’t let it be a distraction, Ren. We can’t afford that.”

“Of course not. Your Imperial Highness.” The words were still awkward, but Kylo added them to please Hux. They did. He smiled. It was a genuine smile, rather than the half-mad expression he’d worn almost constantly since Snoke was dispatched, as if he couldn’t quite believe they’d done it. Kylo sympathized. Even three days later, he still expected to hear Snoke’s voice in the back of his mind.

Although he knew he should return the infant directly to the nursery, Kylo did not. Instead, he found an alcove, a hidden spot where he was certain nobody would see him, and sat.

He knew very few girls’ names. He’d known very few girls. There was one choice, an obvious one. It was the name of another princess, but Hux would accuse him of sentimentality. He couldn’t use it. Slowly, the baby yawned, then began to make sucking motions, her little tongue protruding from her mouth. When she began to hiccup, Kylo stood.

As he headed back down the damp, eerie halls, a vision came to him. They had been rare of late. Hux, while claiming the Force was overrated, had been asking about them, clearly longing to hear Kylo say he’d seen their reign as long and prosperous. He hadn’t seen anything. Now, however, he saw a woman, beautiful and courageous, standing in front of an army so large, it would have made Hux weep with joy. She was strong with the Force, Kylo could sense it. Stronger than he was, stronger than Snoke, even stronger than Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. _She is the future_ , he thought, looking at the bundle in his arms. _She is why we are here._

When he arrived back at the nursery, he switched on the nanny droid and handed over the baby. As the droid automatically prepared some grey mixture and put it into a bottle, Kylo said, “This child is now the daughter of Emperor Hux. I am her protector.” The droid beeped in recognition. “And I’ll be making some changes in here.”

He tried to recall his own nursery. There had been warm carpeting, he remembered that, and a mobile above his bed, little spaceships that rotated to a tune. There had been a chair, as well, a big rocking chair where his mother and father had spent hours with him. Kylo might not be able to spend hours, but he would come, as often as he could. It was his responsibility.

It was his responsibility as well to find a name for this child, a name that would one day be known across the galaxy. He could think of only one befitting a child of such destiny. He touched his face. It was ironic, but it was also the perfect name for her. “The child’s name,” he told the droid, “will be Lady Rey.” The droid beeped again. Kylo picked up his helmet and left, heading back to the throne room with a renewed sense of purpose. 

**Author's Note:**

> You would think a publicity image from "Hungry Hearts" wouldn't be able to inspire a Kylo Ren/Hux fic. You would think.
> 
>   
> 
> 
> I'm manitoba-sauce-cake.tumblr.com, but to be honest, I don't post much.


End file.
